"'Then, my friends'," said I, 'arm yourselves, and if these are pirates, show the valorous spirit which has led you to abandon your nets in search of fame.' We crowded all our sails, and in less than two hours were alongside the ship, which, as if taken by surprise, offered no resistance: about forty of my men boarded her, but found no occasion to use their swords, as she contained only the mariners and some serving men. Looking about, we found in one of the cabins, two persons, closely confined by the neck in a sort of iron stocks, and separated from each other scarcely two rods; one was a man of good mien; the other, a woman possessing a considerable share of beauty. In another apartment we found a rich couch, on which lay a venerable old man, whose air and manner at once commanded respect. He could not leave his couch, but he raised his head a little, and said, 'Sheathe your swords, gentlemen, for in this ship you will find none to resist you; necessarily then you must try your fortune in this exercise in some other quarter; but your coming will be fortunate for you, not because the ship has wealth wherewith to enrich you, but because I sail in her, I, who am Leopold, king of Norway.'[G] "On hearing him speak thus, I felt a desire to know what events could have happened to bring a king into such a defenceless situation; going to him, I asked if this was true that I heard, for although his appearance and noble demeanour well agreed with his words, yet the scanty equipage of his vessel made it difficult of belief. 'Sir,' replied the old man, 'order your people to be quiet, and listen to me, for in a few words you shall hear great things.' I commanded silence, and my companions and I listened attentively to what he wished to say, which was this:-- "'It pleased Heaven to make me king of _Norway_;[H] my ancestors, likewise, were kings of that land, and they had ruled as their forefathers did, without tyranny or any other innovations. Early in life I married a wife, who was my equal in rank; she died, and left me childless. Time went on, and still I remained contented in my widower's state; but for my sins at length I became enamoured of a lady who had been one of the attendants of my late wife, and who might now be a queen, instead of a prisoner in those stocks, where you must have seen her fastened. She then, thinking it would be unjust not to prefer the curling locks of one of my servants to my grey hairs, fled with him, and not only felt a pleasure in thus dishonouring me, but conspired also with him to take away my life; so that, had I not been timely informed of her plots and machinations, my head would have been off my shoulders in the twinkling of an eye, and theirs crowned, as sovereigns in my place.